Key events, main players in Rutgers' basketball scandal

A timeline of key events in a scandal that led to the firing of Rutgers men's basketball coach Mike Rice and the resignation of Athletic Director Tim Pernetti.

The Associated Press

A timeline of key events in a scandal that led to the firing of Rutgers men's basketball coach Mike Rice and the resignation of Athletic Director Tim Pernetti.

Feb. 26, 2009: Rutgers hires Tim Pernetti as athletic director.

May 6, 2010: Rutgers hires Mike Rice as men's basketball coach.

July 2010: Eric Murdock is hired as the basketball program's player development director.

July 2, 2012: Murdock is fired after he skips a youth camp run by Rice, according to a lawsuit. He says the university told him his contract wasn't being renewed.

July 11, 2012: Murdock's lawyer sends a letter to Rutgers' interim president and other university officials claiming Murdock was improperly fired in retaliation for discussing alleged misconduct by Rice.

Sept. 1: Robert Barchi takes office as Rutgers president.

Nov. 26: Murdock's lawyer gives Pernetti a 30-minute DVD of edited video clips culled from hundreds of hours of practice. The clips show Rice kicking and throwing basketballs at players, shoving them and berating them with foul language and gay slurs.

Nov. 27: Rutgers hires a law firm to investigate.

Dec. 13: Rutgers announces that Rice will be suspended without pay for three games, fined $50,000. He is also ordered to undergo anger management counseling.

April 2, 2013: ESPN airs clips from Murdock's video. Pernetti shows the video to other media outlets and to Barchi.

April 3: Rice is fired. Assistant basketball coach Jimmy Martelli resigns. A group of faculty members call for Barchi to resign or be fired and politicians call for Pernetti to lose his job.

April 4: Interim senior vice president and university counsel John Wolf, who had agreed that Rice should be suspended rather than fired, steps down from that position.

April 5: Pernetti resigns. Murdock fires a wrongful termination lawsuit against Rutgers. The chairman of the Rutgers board, Ralph Izzo, says Barchi will not be fired.